They Were Perfect
by Faramae Baggins
Summary: Shikamaru and Temari were made for each other. How will Temari survive after she has lost Shikamaru forever? I really enjoy your feedback, so please review this!
1. Shikamaru and Temari

"Shoot," Shikamaru Nara said to himself as the kunai accidentally slipped in his sweaty grip and gave a finger on his right hand a deep cut. He then switched the kunai to his left hand and started sucking on the injured finger.

"Here," Temari stepped over to him, "let me help you with that."

She gently tugged on Shikamaru's arm and pulled his hand towards her, taking out some bandages as she did so. Temari quickly dressed his wound and smiled up at him mischeiviously.

"Baka," whispered Temari and advanced on him, kissing his cheek.

Shikamaru felt his face become very warm and felt a little light-headed. _I am an idiot,_ he thought before stowing his knife back in a safe place and pulling Temari in close for a better one.


	2. For Lack of a Better Word

_A/N: Chapter two. I hope you like it so far, I don't own Naruto or Shikamaru or Temari. _

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For lack of a better word, Shikamaru was…perfect.

For lack of a better word, Temari was…perfect.

They were in love, yet two separate countries, two separate villages, kept them apart. However, living in two faraway places couldn't keep them from breaking apart. They were perfect for each other, and there was no other way it could be.

They were both geniouses, they both had the same cool manner, there were a hundred different things that told everyone they were made for eacher from the beginning. Shikamaru and Temari needed each other to survive. They were a part of each other.


	3. Why?

_A/N: I know this story is totally predictable so far, but I'm really into it and like it, so, yeah. Here's chapter three._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Temari, Shikamaru, Gaara, or Kankurou. This is purely fan-made._

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"Temari!"

She stopped, unwilling to, yet, she did nonetheless. There was something in her younger brother's voice that scared her: an edge to it that mader her uneasy. Kankurou had sounded distressed, and there had only been a few occasions on which Temari had heard him like that.

"Yes," she replied, not turning around.

Kankurou's footsteps ceased as well. Normally, Kankurou would be walking towards her as he spoke, but that didn't happen this time. His abruptness reminded her of how sudden a kiss from Shikamaru came, how he moved when confronted by a serious situation. Yet, he was slow, just like Shikamaru, being cautious when he moved; careful.

"Temari," Kankurou repeated, "there's something Gaara wanted me to tell you."

Temari's stomach dropped. Kankurou never talked like this, only when he was about to say something that might upset either one of them.

"That-that Nara boy, Shikamaru….He's dead."

Her heart stopped.

"T-they found his body," continued Kankurou shakily, "almost a week ago now…"

The blonde couldn't listen to it anymore. She forced her legs to move off in the general direction of her room. Temari suddenly realized that moisture had somehow fell from her eyes, down her cheek and dripped off of her face.

_Why?_ she thought to herself, breaking into a run while covering her tearstained face. _Why?_

Temari reached the safety of her bed, under the covers and lay there for an indefinite amount of time, tears streaking down her face.

"Why, Shikamaru-kun?"


	4. Grey Nothingness

_Chapter four. Hope you've been enjoying this so far! I don't own Naruto or the characters in it. _

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Everything had turned black and white in her world lately. There was no more color, nothing important. Temari's life had become a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. There was no more meaning to it like there had been before. All she had to live with was endless fear.

Her brothers had noticed. Of caurse, Gaara noticed everything, yet Kankurou was a different story.

Temari never slept soundly anymore. She never ate without spilling half of her plate all over the place and only consuming the last quarter piece. She wasn't herself, everyone could see that. However Kankurou and Gaara saw how deep their older sister's wound went. It would never be able to heal.


	5. Something to Do

_This is getting a little shaky in my head right now, but I'll still contiue it. I've got a lot more layed out than what I'm probably letting on (once again, in my head) If you've got any tips on any part of this please share!! I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto-san. Enjoy!_

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"Temari."

There it was again; the same despairing voice, except it was Gaara speaking this time. Perhaps it was despair that suggested he was worried.

"Hai, Kazekage-sama." She didn't look at him; her eyes were directed at the edge of his desk nearest to her.

Gaara paused for the briefest moment before continuing. "Temari, I need you to deliver these to Konoha," he indicated a stack of papers about a centimeter high.

Temari glanced at the paperwork she was to deliver. Only one word had stuck out at her, and that was one of the words that the kunoichi was trying desperately to forget. Yet, as hard as she tried, it would still stay in her memory forever.

Konohagakure: the place that had hosted the Chuunin Examinations, the village they had helped invade along with the Village Hidden in the Sound, their new ally, the place that had requested aid from Suna in the 'Uchiha Incident,' the place where Shikamaru came from.

She might have cried; she _should _have cried. Yet, her pride kept the tears forming in her green eyes. She would not cry.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama," Temari repeated, picking up the pages and starting to walk out of the door.

"Temari, I'm not done yet," Gaara told her. She stopped and turned around to face her younger brother, a sad look in her eyes.

Gaara continued, guilt for giving his grieving sister this mission sinking in at last, "I'm sorry, but please be careful and…make sure you deliver them to Godaime Hokage-sama in person…." He didn't know what else to say. Everything he did voice seemed idiotic.

She nodded to him, and made her way into the dimly lit hallway beyond the Kazekage's office to start preparations to leave.


	6. Konoha

_Am I on chapter six already?? Wow. I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!!_

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It had been three weeks since she had departed from Suna. She took the usual time traveling to the shinobi village in the center of the Fire Country. However, once she had found herself in the Leaf Village, she found if hard to get back out.

Everything seemed so familiar despite the fact that it was not her homeland. Maybe it was the remembrance of Shikamaru that had given her this surprising memory of Konoha. Temari felt as if every rock, tree, drop of water, building, and person was hers in this village. She knew this place from top to bottom. And it was all because of Shikamaru.

Temari had completed her mission; there was no reason for her to stay in Konoha. It was painful; why had she made herself stay? But she wasn't conscious of any choice she'd made to neither stay nor leave the blooming village.

She was there for the memories. Even if Shikamaru wasn't there, Konohagakure held a little piece of him everywhere, just like every other one of the town's inhabitants. That was just how the Leaf Village was. Temari would like nothing less than to stay here forever.

But all sadness comes to an end, and unfortunately, so must happiness. So Temari had to leave. Three weeks was a long time. So she made her way back to her home, to Suna.


	7. Giving Up

_I really hope you've liked it so far. Thank you to all who reviewed, I really appreciate it! I don't own neither these characters nor places, they belong to Kishimoto-san in his awesome manga Naruto which I do not own. Please reveiw!_

_On to the story..._

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After Temari had come home from her mission to Konoha—a simple C-rank—she had become more distant than she had been ever before. Kankurou had told Gaara that she might be more attached to Suna if she had paid a visit to her sweetheart's homeland.

And heck was Kankurou wrong. What had led him to believe anything that his older brother said? In fact, Kankurou might have been squished into billions of pieces by crushing sand, but Gaara thought better of it. Maybe Gaara had trusted him because he was hoping for some miracle that the wound to Temari's heart might patch up maybe a little if some solution were found. They were both just beginning to realize that this was way beyond the norm. They still wanted to believe that there _was_ something that could be done about it.

Temari spent most of her time shut up in her quarters, seclusion not helping the situation, yet it was better than being with other people. She never did anything; 'something' seemed quite pointless. There was no meaning for her existence, so why should she try and give her life a meaning? Shikamaru had been her life before, yet, he was gone. What was left?

Gaara couldn't take it anymore; he was running a shinobi village _and_ trying to find a cure for grief. Neither of which were very easy. While the direction of a shinobi village was manageable, the resolution for grief would be impossible.

Temari just lay on her bed, watching the sunrise and fall—painfully slowly—each day. She hardly left the room anymore, keeping to herself and wondering if the next day would get any better…any less painful.

But each day Temari's condition worsened and everyone realized what a big mistake it was to hope for miracles. Because, here in Suna, there weren't any.


	8. Something a Little Risky

_Thank you for your patience waiting for this chapter! We're getting to the end, just bare with me. I hope you've enjoyed this story. This is chapter eight of about nine and so far it's the longest chapter in this story. I don't own the Sandsibs, Kishimoto-sensei does, along with everything and everyone else in Naruto. :)_

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It was only the second time Temari remembered leaving the refuge of her room by her brother's request. She knew that Kankurou and Gaara had a right to be worried, yet still, was she hurting anyone? 

she lifelessly trugged her way to Kazekage's office. How blurry her memory had become! This place seemed like a totally new and alien place. How could she have been through here only a week ago?

She knocked on the office door, and was told to enter.

Both Gaara and Kankurou were in the room, Gaara's weariness was starting to show and Kankurou looked a mess. Yet, Temari couldn't get her sorrow for her being the cause of their pain to her eyes. Her expression was impassive as she stood before her two brothers.

Kankurou looked up at her. His face was purple-line-less and he wasn't wearing his hat. Shadows were deep under his black eyes, and his brown hair was disheveled, overgrown. How long had thoughts of Temari kept him awake at night to make him look like this?

Her youngest brother was trying to look calm. The Kazekage's face held little of what Gaara was feeling. Yet, his eyes gave his thoughts away. It wasn't like him to show his emotions without noticing it quickly and fixing his slight mistake. Nothing was the same as it had been before Temari had transformed into a living zombie.

Gaara was the one to break the tense silence that had fallen between them all.

"I have a mission for you." His voice wavered only slightly, hardly noticably. Neither of his siblings paid any attention.

Kankurou and Temari turned their faces to look at him, listening. Their gazes both made pain course through his boday after they met his aqua eyes.

"What are we doing?" Kankurou asked, trying to sound casual but, naturally, failing in the attempt.

"Konoha requested that we look into a matter that has long been in their hands. So far, every team they have sent has either been found mortally or dead. Nara Shikamaru was the first to go survey the situtation and--."

Temari couldn't listen anymore. Although she was looking at Gaara and not shoing any sign of having stopped paying attention. Any mention of Shikamaru's name was like a million Senbon to her body. Her eyes stung like wind to their surfaces, but no tears came.

"...I need you two to meet up with the two Konoha that have been dispatched by Hokage-sama and they will inform you of the rest of the mission."

Kankurou stood up slowly, still looking at his brother, "Hai, Gaara." His eyes fell upon Temari as he turned.

She nodded heavily, following Kankurou out to get their things.

Gaara couldn't help being afraid for his older siblings. If Nara hadn't been able to overcome the enemy and also countless others, how could they? His older brother and sister were two of the strongest shinobi he knew; they wouldn't back down easily. Yet, Temari wasn't herself and Kankurou was on his way to developing a form of insomnia. The situation was different this time. However, depression can be forgotten in the most dangerous of circumstances.

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_Sorry for any typos I may have missed. I had to type this directly into the document on the web so I didn't have spell check to help me. Thanks for reading and please review! I appreciate reviews a lot, so please/..\ Arigatoo! The next chapter will be up as soon as possible!_


	9. The Beginning

_My first completed multi-chapter story. I hope you liked it! I don't own Naruto. Enjoy please! _

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It was hard to make herself let go while she was on this mission. She had so forgotten everything to be able to concentrate on the taste at hand, especially herself. 

Temari and Kankurou had been traveling with the other Leaf-nin for two weeks. They had been informed that they were to track down the enemy and figure their numbers. According to previous survivors, it was a group of rouge ninja wandering and plotting together in the Land of Fire's territory. The Leaf-nin were told that they should be weary of ambush because there was a chance that they party had a spy inside the village; and if they had a spy, it meant that they were plotting something big.

It was dusk, the last shafts of sunlight disappearing between the tree's leaves and branches. Golden light played delicately on the trunks, and a chill was on its way.

Kankurou jumped ahead of the four shinobi, sweat gleaming on his face in the fading sunlight. Both Konoha were in between the puppet master and Temari, who was holding back.

It was just as the gleaming sun dropped away from sight when they heard Kankurou give as startled cry from up ahead of the others. They were instantly on guard as they met up with him and saw what had made Kankurou shout.

Fifteen ninja surrounded them now, none with friendly or welcome faces. Temari pulled her iron fan off her back in one sweeping motion, opening it as well. Kankurou readied the scrolls he used to summon his three puppets and the two Konoha reached for their kunai.

_Shikamaru…_Temari tried to clear her mind, now was the time to fight, _no! Not now! Please!_

A kunai from the unknown ninja flew at her back—the battle had started before she knew it—and she blocked it with her fan. Temari then wept it around her, creating a cyclone and taking out two shinobi on her right. Another knife was aimed at her—and obvious attack—and it glanced off of her fan as the other one had.

Yet, Shikamaru's face popped up in her mind's eye and distracted her for a few moments at a time every so often and she was at a disadvantage. She somehow lost control of her senses for one second, trying to clear the image from her mind, and then—

"TEMARI!!" Kankurou shouted.

She felt something long, cold and wet go straight through her heart; Kankurou's warning was in vain. Temari let her fan drop and fell to her knees, looking down at the sword soaked with her blood.

Somehow it reflected her own face and she thought of Shikamaru. So that was the face he had loved so much….

Right before her world dissolved around her, before everything she had wished and hoped for disappeared, she whispered three words: "Shikamaru-kun…I've come…."

And she was dead, falling rapidly into Shikamaru's open embrace.

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_Was it good? Was it bad? Please tell me, I really do welcome reviews! And also tell me if you liked the ending; (for example) not the fact that both Temari and Shikamaru are dead, but if I made it too corny or anything like that. Also, I would like to know if anyone would like to have an epilogue or if I should just leave it as it is. I've been debating it in my head and want to continue with just an epilogue, yet I think that I should leave it with nine chapters. Thank you so much for reading this! Please review!!! _


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